Accordion hand strap mounting



Jan. 31, 1950 w. B. AHERN ET AL ACCORDION HAND STRAP MOUNTING OriginalFi led Dec; 9" PIL]. 1

Patented Jan. 31, 1950 ACCORDION HAND STRAP MOUNTING William B. Ahcrnand Albert J. Walt, De Kalb,

Ill., assignors to The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, Chicago, 111., acorporation Original application December 19, 1946.. Serial No. 717,168.Divided and this application April 14, 1948, Serial No. 20,986

i l 4 Claims.

This invention relates to an accordion hand strap mounting adapted to beremovably secured to and adjustably mounted on the bass section of anaccordion, this application being a division of our application SerialNo. 717,168, filed December 19, 1946, entitled Accordion bass section.

It is the purpose of this invention to provide an adjustable mountingfor a hand strap, including a strap adjusting wheel normally having. aperipheral portion thereof protruding through a slot in the decorativeshell or housing enclosing the bass action. In order that the decorativeshell may be formed as a unit for removable mounting over the bassaction, it is desirable to provide adjustable means for the hand strapwhich is retracti-ble in a manner to be moved out of the way of theshell or housing when it is mounted over or removed from. the action,and adapted to protrude through an opening in the side of the shell formanually adjusting purposes after the shell is in place, This isaccomplished in the manner and by means of the mechanism hereinaftermore fully set forth and described.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from theaccompanying drawings and the followin description and claims-:

Fig. 1 is a central longitudinal section through the chassis support andshell housing of an accordion bass section with the intermediate portionbroken away and illustrative of the hand strap and adjusting wheel inconnected and operative relation.

Fig. 2 is a view similar to the right-hand view of Fig. 1 showing thehand strap removed and the adjusting wheel therefor in retractedposition.

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

In the drawings there is shown an accordion bass action including achassis support In upon which the action mechanism is mounted, therebeing provided a housing shell H formed to fit over the action mechanismand be secured about a downwardly turned flange of the chassis supportl0. Said chassis support is preferably formed of cast aluminum or sheetmetal stamping, and the housing shell H may be formed of molded plastic,stamped sheet metal or any suitable material, such as to provide adecorafive box.

Rigidly secured to the chassis support at each end thereof there arestrap supporting H is rigidly secured over the action" mechanism whenassembled. Adjacent each end of the shell there is an aperture overwhich the bars providing feet 68 are positioned, said feet beingrecessed and apertured to receive the locking bolts 69, said boltspassing through the apertures of the feet for threaded engagement withthe threaded locking sleeves 10 secured to the upper flange of therespective supporting brackets, the opposed flange thereof being rivetedat H to the chassis support [0. The bracket 66 carries laterally andoutwardly extending supporting plates 12 in parallel spaced relation, toslidably receive and support a strap adjusting wheel 13 in horizontalrelation to the chassis support and in alignment with an aperture 14 inthe end wall of the shell so as to partially extend therethrough. asshown in Fig. 2. Said wheel is provided with an internally threaded hub15 adapted to be moved into and out of alignment with the apertures 16in the supporting plates 12. In assembling the shell ll over the actionmechanism the strap adjusting wheel 13 is retracted to the positionshown in Fig, 2 so as to be out of the way durin assembly. Afterassembly it is locked in operative position, as shown in Fig. 1, afterbeing moved to extend through the slot". In this position its. threadedhub is aligned with the apertures 15 so as to receive a threaded stem 18secured to one end or a hand strap 19 for extension through an opening80 in the shell and into threaded engagement with the hub 15.

The bracket 6'! has secured thereon a hook Bl adapted to removablyreceive a metal loop 82 secured to the other end of the hand strap forinsertion through an opening 83 in the shell. After the shell has beenassembled over the action mechanism and secured to the brackets by thebolts 89, the metal loop 82 of the strap is inserted through the opening83 and dropped down to pass over the hook 8|. Thereupon the opposite endof the strap connected to the threaded stem 18 is inserted through theopening 80 in the shell, and, with the adjusting wheel 13 moved to itsoperating position through the slot 14, entered into the threaded hubthereof for screw thread engagement therewith. Thereupon the adjustingWheel 13 is rotated to draw the stem inwardly, by which means the handstrap '39 may be loosened or tightened.

The invention claimed is:

1. An accordion bass section including a chassis support for a bassaction, a housing shell removbrackets 60 ad 61 by means of which theShell ably mounted on said chassis support having slots providedtherein, a hand strap having one end extending through a slot in saidshell, means for anchoring said end to said chassis support, a handstrap adjusting wheel having an internally threaded hub, means on saidchassis support for slidably mounting said wheel for movement to aposition entirely within said shell and to an exposed position with aportion of its periphery extending through one of said slots in the endof said shell, and a threaded stem on the bearin end of said strapinsertable through one of the slots of said shell and into the hub ofsaid wheel for threading therein with said wheel in exposed position,the bearing for said wheel supporting it in fixed relation to saidchassis support while permitting rotation thereof relative to saidthreaded stem for effecting adjustment of said hand strap.

2. An accordion bass section including a chassis support and a housingshell, a hand strap mounted externally of said shell with the endsthereof extending inwardly of said shell through slots formed therein,means for anchoring one end of said strap to said chassis support, athreaded stem on the other end of said strap extending into said shellfor permitting strap adjustment, a strap adjusting wheel having athreaded hub for receiving said threaded stem for strap adjustment uponrotation relative thereto, and a bearing support for said wheelcomprising a pair of spaced bearing members between which said wheel isrotatably supported, one of said members having an elongated bearingslot for rotatably receiving an extension of said hub to permit saidwheel to be retracted from the end of said shell for mounting said shellthereover and moved to operating position with a portion of itsPeriphery extending into an end slot of said shell when in operatingposition, the other of said bearing members having an opening thereinfor receiving said threaded stem to permit its threaded engagementwithin said hub when said wheel is moved to operative position andretain said wheel in said operative position for strap adjustment whensaid stem is threaded therein.

3. An accordion bass section comprising a chassis support, a pre-formedhousing shell adapted to be removably mounted on said support, endsupport brackets for removably securing said shell thereto, a hand straphook formed on one of said support brackets, a retractable hand strapadjusting wheel rotatably and slidably mounted on the other supportbracket movable to retracted position thereon for permitting placementof the housing shell over said support, and a hand strap adapted to beextended through an aperture of said shell for engagement with said hookat one end and having a threaded stem at the other end insertablethrough an aperture in said shell into adjustable threaded engagementwith said adjusting wheel when said wheel is moved from retractingposition into operative position with a portion thereof extendingthrough an aperture in the end of said shell.

4. An accordion bass section including a chassis support for a bassaction, a housing shell carried by said chassis support to enclose theaction, a supporting bracket secured to said support adjacent each endthereof, means for securing said shell to said bracket, said shellhaving slots adjacent thereto, one of said supporting brackets beingformed with a hand strap anchor for removably securing a hand strap loopinsertable through the adjacent slot of said shell, a hand strapadjusting wheel having an internally threaded bearing portion forreceiving a threaded hand strap stem insertable through the adjacentslot of said shell when said wheel is in operable position, said bearingportion being slidably mounted on the other supporting bracket formovement to retracted position to permit placement of said shellthereover and to stem receiving position with a portion thereofprojecting through a slot in the end of said shell for hand strapadjustment.

WILLIAM B. AI-IERN. ALBERT J. \VALT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,597,034 Grebe Aug. 24, 19262,134,854 Bolster Nov. 1, 1938 2,221,980 Lindeberg Nov. 19, 1940

